This entire post is based on my opinions and experiences that caused those opinions to be formed.
If you are disabled…your life is not worth enough for attorneys when harmed by the medical system
I recently published the above post .. that basically stated that unless you are “white”, high earner and loose your ability to earn a income because of some medical accident/incident.. that no attorney will take your case on a contingency basis. It is also apparent that the ACLU has little interest about all the “rights” of the chronic pain community being violated. I also recently made a post about AARP not doing anything regarding the chronic pain community and I even put it out on Face Book with a #AARP so if they were trolling what is being said.. it should catch their attention… if it caught their attention.. nothing came back to me. So you can “kiss off” AARP carrying about the needs of those Seniors that are chronic painers.
It really doesn’t make much of a difference which Presidential candidate gets elected.. the wheels of “the establishment” have already been set into motion by the un-elected regulators/bureaucrats. They have been convinced by the DEA, CDC, other anti-opiate groups and those running for profit rehab centers that the use of opiates (legal & illegal) has a direct link to opiate addiction , Heroin use/abuse/deaths… tens of thousands of deaths every year.. chose a number.. any number.. everyone else does to make the claim on the number of OD’s. Accuracy is not really important.. just make the number as large as you think that you can get believed. No one is ever going to ask to for supportive evidence and besides you can just claim that it is NIH or CDC reports.
Trump’s VP Pence is Gov of Indiana and his AG Zoeller’s attempts at fighting the war on drugs in Indiana has been nothing short of a disaster. Hillary Clinton has endorsed the proposed bill by the WV Senator Manchin that would impose a $0.01/mg on opiate Rxs… that means that a #100 Norco 10 will have a $10 tax. Someone taking Oxycodone 30 mg 6 X day will pay a extra $54/month… and that is going to come out of the pt’s pocket the insurance will not pay for it.. and those $$$ are only if the tax remains at $0.01/mg and doesn’t go to $0.05 or $0.10/mg. This money is suppose to be dedicated to help those addicted/abusing substances. So the 98% of the pts that use opiates responsibly will end up paying to treat the 2% that suffer from the mental health of addictive personality disorder. And most of that money will end up in the pocket of Andrew Kolodny and others who operate addiction treatment centers.
The people that are passing these rules/regulations/laws knows that they are dealing with a population that is mostly physically, mentally, financially exhausted. They can pass laws, reinterpret laws that are outside their authority and/or unconstitutional… because they know that the only way that they are going to be challenged is in a court of law and they are like the school yard bully picking on the kid in a wheelchair or on crutches… The bully knows that they are not able to put up a fight and the bully can walk away from the altercation feeling superior for “winning”.
Another chronic painer and myself tried about one year ago to amass a “legal war chest”… our goal was pretty realistic and small… we were looking for abt 1% of the chronic pain community to contribute the cost of a fast food lunch ($5 -$7) ONE TIME… it would have created a war chest of abt FIVE to SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS… after one month we had collected some $600 and change from a couple of dozen contributors… which included two people contributing $100 each… so we refunded the monies and abandoned the project.
If there are 106 million chronic pain pts… such a project could amass upwards of 500 – 700 million dollars.. if everyone contributed the cost of a fast food meal ONE TIME.. I can assure you than you contact some legal firms with 5-7 million dollars in a war chest… they will talk to you.
I have just started blogging for my fifth year… and I have seen untold number of Face Book pages come and go.. I have seen untold number of people who claim that they are STRONG ADVOCATES and will work for change and when there is no change in 6 months… they are gone..
I have seen dozens of on line petitions… the only one that I remember reaching the required number of signatures was calling for the head of the DEA to be fired or resign.. abt 150,000 signatures… to the best of my knowledge.. the head of the DEA is still just where he was before the petition was started.
The bureaucrats are establishing multiple levels of obstacles between the chronic pain pt and their appropriate and necessary therapy. I am not an attorney, but I would bet that many are unconstitutional, but unless challenged in a court of law…they will stay on the books and continue to be enforced. Some are at the Federal level some are at the individual state level and the constitutionality of each will have to be challenged at the individual state court and/or federal court level and probably won’t be resolved until they reach the Supreme Court.
This country was started with a revolution of taxation without representation… Congress was suppose to be citizen legislators… not the career legislators that we have today… and that revolution was between “the establishment” (England) and the “common folks”. Sound familiar ?
Today, the revolution will not take long rifles or muskets … just a coordinated movement of “voting the bums out”. That will create enough chaos in the short term and then the chronic pain community will have time to raise a “legal war chest” and organize a secondary attack on the “regulations without representation”
I know one thing for certain, this is one advocate that is tired of listening to all the whining, bitching and moaning that is going on within Face Book groups and on blogs. As a whole, the chronic pain community needs to get their act together or the anti-opiate groups will make sure that you don’t have a act.
I really don’t have a dog in this fight, Barb’s pain management is probably is as good as it is going to get… and I have enough chutzpah, large enough cojones and financially heeled well enough to make sure that she continues to get appropriate therapy.
The rest of you need to get your “shit together” or suffer the consequences.
Filed under: General Problems
I was screwed by Walgreen’s, and also, I believe it was due to discrimination by one particular pharmacist who works for Walgreen’s. She violated Walgreen’s store policy not just once but twice. She refused to take my prescription from me, and also, she left a note for all the other pharmacist to not fill my prescription. Both are violations of the store policies. I am a Walgreen’s customer and the medication is a class 3. This lady just hates me for some reason. I have legitimate reasons to get these types of medications, but I’m not going to get into that. I would like to get into this discussion when it comes to pain medication. There should be some kind of regulation from either state or federal determining the class of medication you can get from your disability. If you have cancer obviously you would need the strongest pain medicine to help control pain, but if you just have a phony back problem where your doctor prescribes you Opana or Oxycontin there is definitely something wrong with this, and that’s where the problem lies. There should be legitimate reasons to obtain class 2 drugs. Doctors are getting very rich handing out prescriptions for very strong pain medicines, but don’t get me wrong there are plenty of people who need these types of drugs. Lets hold doctors responsible for giving out prescriptions to patients that are just wanting them to get high, and put there asses in jail if the diagnosis of the patient doesn’t meet the criteria for the drug. It’s a real easy problem to solve if doctors just hand out the proper medications to the people who come in for help. It’s not fair to the patient to get addicted to these types of drugs, and it’s definitely not fair for the patients who really need these drugs to get through the day. If someone disagrees with this step to cut down on phony prescriptions, than your just looking to get high, it’s as simple as that.
My comment just flew off somewhere. You can call me anything you want, but I’m so sick right now I can’t even re-write it. Go ahead and yell at me, I’m taking it from a few people in their silence right now. You just put the icing on my anger and got rid of me. There are too many chronic pain patients who don’t even know you or I or anyone of us even exists. We don’t have any majority; we don’t have any tools and I don’t know exactly why you think we can unite, but I don’t believe it’s even possible. What I have to say about that can remain here in my bed. No one is going to care anyway.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with my opinions or point of view. However, as long as I’m able, to do whatever I’m able, I will, because what’s happening is unconcionable! Whether you realize it or not, I’m not only trying to be a voice for myself & the many others like me, I’m also being a voice to fight for the many others who are in too much pain or are too sick to do so for themselves. Yes, we may be sick, in pain or disabled, but we are NOT without tools or skills and if we could come together as ONE unified group then they WOULD KNOW we EXIST! ! And maybe, just maybe start the process of change!
[…] There is no “spoonful of sugar” to help this go down […]
[…] There is no "spoonful of sugar" to help this go down […]
I believe there are many, many out there who are advocating & honestly trying to make a difference, but people are ONLY doing what they KNOW HOW to do! Some search the web for articles or advocacy groups, others write their Legislators & the President, some created petitions, still others blog about it. I truly believe with the vast, vast number of people being affected by this (& worse, the number who WILL BE if we dont ensure some real change) there ARE enough individuals to make our voices heard! I really think a HUGE part of the problem is that while we’re each trying to do our part individually, we are ALL OVER THE PLACE!! There are endless posts, blogs, webpages/pain groups, petitions etc. Many are working individually but we have been UNABLE TO COME TOGETHER AS ONE GROUP!!! We NEED ONE group, ONE petition, ONE website or organization-ONE UNIFIED FRONT! I think that’s one of the most critical aspects we have not accomplished thus far! I believe it’s a big part of why we are not being heard either! How do we do it though, that part can be a challenge with pain patients. Between us, between ALL of us, for the GOOD of all of us (& our families because it’s going to affect them first hand as well,) we need to figure this out!! If we are ALL UNITED under one umbrella, under one name and for ONE CAUSE, I believe then, we would be too big to ignore; that’s when we will be heard! If others agree please, post your suggestions! If you don’t agree & think we need another plan of action that’s great, reply with those suggestions as well but, I think, we desperately NEED to take ACTION as a One Unified Force!
Texas was one of the first states to institute tort reform which limited pain and suffering awards. It was predicted that this is what would happen after theses reforms were passed. When you can’t sue for pain and suffering, the cases which are profitable for attorneys to pursue are those for lost potential income. You’re right Steve. These lives are worthless thanks to tort reform.
Tort reform was supposed to lower malpractice insurance premiums and reduce the cost of healthcare. I don’t think it accomplished either. Tort reform is an essential component of most conservatives answers to controlling healthcare costs. Be careful what you vote for.
A continued very business friendly U.S. Supreme Court won’t relieve anybody’s pain and suffering. It’s up to you to take care of yourself even if you are in constant pain, or as you recently posted here are injured on the job.
I remember the advertising campaign for tort reform when I lived in Texas. It almost convinced me. Of course, that was before the internet, although many still believe today that people sue all the time over nothing. There are still people who believe the McDonald’s coffee case was a scam.
I think malpractice insurance premiums did decrease a little, but I also think that was due to the decrease in people suing for malpractice. Put another way, it was due to lawyers refusing to take these cases because of caps. As for reducing the cost of health care, I guess we can analyze that when it happens.
Steve, thank you for this. I needed it. I do want to ask you how does the DEA work, who appoints the DEA administrator, who decides which direction the DEA will go (continuing the witch hunt for doctors and pharmacists or going after the illegal drugs on our streets and flowing over our borders).
I understand that they’re under the direction of the Justice Dept, which is an executive office. I think what I’m asking is does the president have much to do with how the DEA is ran and which direction they go in their “investigations?” Also, do you see any difference between our two major candidates when it comes to the direction of the DEA?
I totally AGREE with You!!! I’m over too! It’s been 5 yrs of advocating and we just can’t get people to really take enough action.
I’ve noticed that the strongest advocates who worked with me back in 2011 are not fighting for the cause anymore.They’re getting their needs met right now and busy with themselves. The only time I hear from any of them is when something scares them. Other than that, they’re tired of trying to motivate other people to advocate and the legislators haven’t listened at all. Emailing letters to law makers just doesn’t work, they ignore it. Town hall meetings with representatives might work like it did for the mother of addicts but no one will leave the house to do them. So,.
I guess those with pain care should just enjoy some quality of life for now because it may not last the way things are going.
If you are who I think you are I tryed very hard to advocate for you and with you. I even helped you while you took vacation, I was really moving along nicely with only just a few who would put in the work. I became very close friends with one very nice woman who truly was the back bone of helping me help you fight for our rights. Unfortunately I had a real screwball hacking my page, but one of your members thought it would be nice to make me look the part of a fool when in fact I showed this person factual court papers showing the problems I was having with this fool hacking my page. I lost my best friend from the group who was helping me fight for your group because of another member from your group who had it out for me. Myself and my dear friend from your group were put up against each other because of one person who had it out for me in your group. Then started the he said she said bullcrap. I myself never said anything against my old friend and I doubt very much my old friend said anything against me. I never listened to any of the stuff I was hearing from others, words are cheap and don’t cost a dime. Unfortunately this screwball who was hacking my page continued to hack my page until I had to shut my page down. I tryed a year later to start up my Facebook page and yet again this screwball hacked my page. I’ve taken this individual to court on many occasions for that and other issues being done to my family and myself. This person had destroyed my friendship with the one person that was really helping me advocate for all. I hoped and prayed our friendship could have been repaired but to no avail. I was warned by another person from the group that one day I would say to this person she was right when she had said to me don’t waist your time, before I shut my page down I left that person a message that the I told you so she said to me was right. But in my mind just because I admitted to the I told you so to this individual, to me the fight was still worth it. Myself and my old friend who I still adore dearly were the only ones doing anything from this group, everyone else lol, no one wanted to sign their name to anything at all and myself and my dear old friend were burned out. I had to use a friends page to write this reply because apparently according to the law of the state I live in if somebody hacks your page as long as there’s no threats made or something else illegal they are not breaking any laws. Ant that a pip. I apologized to my old friend many times before I shut my page down, but others from the group just keeped up the he said she said crap, it wasn’t worth losing my friend over, but unfortunately I did lose my friend and so I shut down my page and stopped all advocating . If my old friend happens to read this it’s been almost two years now and i have long apologized to my old friend, but one thing I never did was say anything bad about anyone or anybody at anytime. I still adore my old friend and I will always cherish the memories we had fighting this war against pain patients, but with out unity MR. Steve is correct nothing will ever be done to correct this madness. I myself wake up every day with tears in my eyes due to pain and as I found out the hard way, nobody give a crap, especially about me. . The people from the group were my ❤️. My heart has been broken. And my pain continues. I just wish I would have come to you Donna and explained what was going on in my private life with a screwball who still continues to hack my page if I start it up, Iam better off not having the page, at least that way I can’t see all the negative medication news about pain meds, because Iam currently living a life of extreme pain. To the group I belonged to I just want to say no matter what I will always cherish you all. Especially my old friend, I will always cherish the good times. We would have won this war by now because my old friend and myself were rocking n rolling. Just when we started getting political people to listen we knew it was two much for just two or three of us who were working together couldn’t do it all alone, no fault of ours. To all in that group, I love you all and always will.
Donna I also wanted to say to you, please don’t give up the fight, you are a great woman and a wonderful warrior and I do believe you will get people to unite and you will win this war. I believe after the elections are over is when this war will be won. Please don’t you give up. I finally got a buyer for my house and at the end of the month I will out of the state I live in at the time. Please don’t give up your fight, as I said in my other reply to you, there’s not a day goes by the tears don’t roll down my cheeks, I don’t know what will become of me and many others like myself and like all the people you fight for. Please don’t stop the fight, I truly believe you can win this. You are my hero and thousands of other people’s hero, please don’t give up the fight. . Broken Hearted friend.
one last thing if I may because my friend is leaving and I will not be able to write anything elese, every month goes by I never know is this the month all my meds are taken away, I have nobody to talk to at all, I spend most my days now staring at the ceiling while laying in my bed crying. And yes Frankie Vallie was wrong because big boys do cry. I only have my wife to talk to and most times I try not to show my worries, I now worry about everything from when will I have no meds to worrying about Isis doing terrorist attacks and hurting or killing people here in the U.S. I especially worry about my wife and my children, at least when I was a member of the group I had people I could talk to, now I have no one to talk to at all. Also it’s my choice not to join any more groups because when I read all the negative things about the chronic pain community it litterly makes me so sad that our government can do this to us. I only have my childhood friends from back home and most of them are fortunate enough to be healthy and they don’t understand the pain we all feel. I so wish I could be part of the group again, it’s been two years now I’ve been dealing with the pain all alone. This person who hacked my page did the same thing to my family members and my childhood friends , the only good thing about that is they knew my family was having problems with this guy and by the time they got done with him he stopped bothering my family and finally the police dept dealt with him on another matter in which he was doing the same thing to a girlfriend of his so he got himself in trouble finally. Karma actually does work, But me I lay in bed all alone now with no one to talk to anymore because I don’t want anymore trouble from anyone at all, I also now need help in everything I do because my walking and standing ability has diminished to the point I can hardly walk anymore. Iam all alone now and thanks to this idiot who harassed my family everyone in the pain group hates me now. I’ve asked for forgiveness from my old friend in the group I hope at least you all know how sorry Iam for anything that may have affected anyone in the group. And Iam so very sorry to all. Most of all Iam sorry about losing the friendship I shared with my old friend and to all in the group. Do know not a day goes by I don’t think of you. And that goes out to all of you also. I will be having a birthday in just a few days and all I want is to have the friendships back I’ve lost from you all. Especially my old friends to whom I love and adore. I doubt anyone cares, but I do care about all of you. May the good lord keep you all safe and sound and may you all be blessed. Now I will leave you all and pray we all get the help we need, please don’t give up the fight. You all need to keep fighting. Please help each other, United you stand remember that. I Love You All. . You are all my ❤️. Not only do I feel my pain but I feel your also. Now it’s time I sign off and keep to myself . Love you all.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/aarp-to-withdraw-from-alec_us_57a4c72de4b03ba6801233e5?
“AARP is widely viewed as one of the most powerful public interest groups in the country, with over 37 million members over the age of 50.”
“…AARP wrote in a message posted on its Facebook page early Friday morning. ‘We would never work against the interests of older Americans…”
Prove it, AARP. How many of your members are chronic pain patients? What are you doing to help them? Which side of the drug war are you on?
I agree with everything you said and I too have tried (in vain) to raise awareness as to what’s going on re opiates. Sad to say people will listen but that’s as far as it goes. They do nothing. It’s very sad and extremely scary and stressful to think I may be unable to get my pain medication in the not so distant future. I will have no quality of life if and when that happens. I will not live that way so my only option will be to not live.
Agreed Steve. Passport Health(KY Medicaid MCO) has been the most aggressive “anti-opiate” of our MCO’s; had two suffering patients this morning that were put in tough spots since their Rx’s “required prior authorization”. I see people get upset at the pharmacy, pay for the Rx and leave. They don’t pursue any further action and anyone can understand why, they’re worn out! There has to be a way for these folks to assemble in some formal manner to be heard. Assemble without the fear of retaliation or judgement, be loud, disruptive and get the attention of the people with the power to remedy this.
Formal complaints to the Boards of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing are a must for any legal proceeding to be brought by these patients. Until we have documentation of “unprofessional or unethical conduct”, these attorneys won’t talk to us about a case.
“For some weeks now we’ve been searching for the enemy. This morning, they have us surrounded. That simplifies things.”. Gen Lewis “Chesty” Puller, USMC, 1950.
Thank you, Steve, for that situational summary.
For some years now, individual members of the chronic pain community have written their observations, on Facebook and many websites and blogs, that if authorities don’t change their present policies on pain care, patients will die.
The mistake that every one of us makes, is to assume that everyone sees this as a bad thing.
It is time to admit the obvious.
All those people in power over us, heard our complaints.
They know we will die if we get no pain relief.
Obviously, every time we’ve warned them that they are killing us, they continued killing us.
The only meaning we can draw from their reaction, is that THEY WANT US DEAD.
This is why complaining to them that they are killing us, makes them even more bold and brazen.
Like General Puller’s Marines at the Choi Sin Reservoir, the way out is to fight through. Puller drew a line on the map, that led his Marines back to the ocean. They killed the enemy in front and pushed forward. They killed the enemy at their sides, to stop them from pushing in. They killed the enemy at their rear, to allow themselves time to withdraw. Eventually they boarded ships and left. The enemy got a lot of their own people killed, trying to stop it from happening.
We are under attack by people who want us dead.
When we politely ask for help, and none comes, we have to assume that our request was refused. The help we asked for, isn’t coming. When we ask for help, and help comes, those are people who genuinely care if we live or die.
Let’s keep a list of the people who actually help us. Only they deserve to be called Friends.
Soo Mr.Steve,,,if I were to file ANOTHER formal complaint this time to the United Nation Legal Department,,,,will u publish it???For some reason my last formal complaint to the human rights division in Geneva,,which the U.N,,did respond to our letter by adding us to the April 2016 emergency meeting,,,NO-ONE,,, wanted to publish it!,,why I seriously don’t know,,and if u don’t know already,,I even got thrown out of a newspaper for getting pisst off at the Man in charge for NOT being willing to publish it,,to get MORE people to sign on,,but even w/our measly 7,,formal people and hundreds I do not know,,who simply emailed me to get the email addres to the U.N,,,to add their names to the formal complaint,,so I have no idea how many actually signed on,,,but I do know 1 thing,,like it or not,,,the U.N,,,were/are thee only ones who tried to do something,,,,,which is better then nothing,,,,Its not their fault the U.S…completely ignored the U.N pleads to STOP torturing the medically ill w/painful medical condition..but to get back to my question,,,if again, ,I send a formal complaint to the U.N legal commission on human rights,,,,will u publish it ?????maryw
I totally agree with what you’ve said. I do hope I can make a difference, however. I’ll keep trying until it looks like my efforts are futile.